Instinct (Iggy Pop album)

After the relative commercial success of Blah Blah Blah, A&M expected another hit record from Pop; however, he instead recorded the heavy, hard-rocking Instinct. The album features Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones and was produced by Bill Laswell.

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r15530|first=Mark|last=Deming|accessdate=2011-06-27}}

| rev2 = Chicago Tribune

| rev2score = {{Rating|2|4}}{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-07-22-9003010792-story.html |title=Pop On Pop: Iggy Rates His Own Music (And So Do We) |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=July 22, 1990 |access-date=November 25, 2020 |last=Kot |first=Greg |author-link=Greg Kot |archive-date=August 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809175923/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-07-22-9003010792-story.html |url-status=live }}

| rev4 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev4score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|chapter=Iggy Pop|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|title-link=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|location=London|publisher=Omnibus Press|edition=5th concise|year=2011|isbn=978-0-85712-595-8}}

| rev5 = Rolling Stone

| rev5Score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web |author=David Fricke |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/instinct-19880922 |title=Instinct | Album Reviews |publisher=Rolling Stone |date=1988-09-22 |access-date=2012-01-11 |archive-date=9 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180509013703/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/instinct-19880922 |url-status=dead }}

| rev6 = (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev6score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite book |chapter=Iggy Pop |last1=Coleman |first1=Mark |last2=Kemp |first2=Rob |title=(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor1-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-link=Christian Hoard |location=New York City |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/645 645–646]}}

| rev3 = Robert Christgau

| rev3score = {{Rating-Christgau|C+}}[https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=5723 Robert Christgau review]

}}

The album performed poorly in the US, peaking at number 110 on the Billboard 200 chart. The first single from the album, "Cold Metal," charted at number 37 on mainstream rock charts and earned Pop a Grammy Award nomination for Best Hard Rock/Metal performance in 1989. Except for a few plays of "Cold Metal" the album was largely ignored by commercial rock radio. A&M released videos for "Cold Metal" and "High on You."

The album was ranked number 69 on Kerrang!s "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time" list.{{Cite web |title=Kerrang! The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of all Time or the worst List that belongs to the History of Hard Rock & Metal - RYM/Sonemic |url=https://rateyourmusic.com/list/warpigcat/kerrang-the-100-greatest-heavy-metal-albums-of-all-time-or-the-worst-list-that-belongs-to-the-history-of-hard-rock-and-metal/ |access-date=2023-05-26 |website=Rate Your Music |language=en}}

The song "Cold Metal" was briefly played in the 1990 science fiction-horror film Hardware, which also featured Iggy Pop as the voice of Angry Bob, a radio DJ.

All tracks composed by Iggy Pop, except where noted.

1. "Cold Metal" – 3:27
2. "High on You" – 4:48
3. "Strong Girl" (Steve Jones, Pop) – 5:04
4. "Tom Tom" – 3:17
5. "Easy Rider" (Steve Jones, Pop) – 4:54
6. "Power & Freedom" (Steve Jones, Pop) – 3:53
7. "Lowdown" – 4:30
8. "Instinct" – 4:12
9. "Tuff Baby" – 4:27
10. "Squarehead" (Steve Jones, Pop) – 5:06

• "Tuff Baby" (12" version released on "High on You" single) – 6:40
• "Tuff Baby" (Dub version) – 5:18
• "High On You" (7" edit) – 4:33
• "Cold Metal" (Rock version) – 5:05
• "Cold Metal" (Dub version) – 4:10

Musicians

• Iggy Pop – vocals
• Steve Jones – guitar
• Seamus Beaghen – keyboards
• Leigh Foxx – bass
• Paul Garisto – drums

Technical

• Bill Laswell – producer
• Robert Musso – tracking engineer
• Martin Bisi – vocal engineer
• Jason Corsaro{{Citation |title=Instinct - Iggy Pop {{!}} Credits {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/instinct-mw0000199853/credits |access-date=2023-05-26 |language=en}} – mixing engineer
• Howie Weinberg – mastering
• Nicky Skopelitis – keyboard programming
• Jeff Bova – keyboard programming
• Gary Grimshaw – cover design
• Donald Krieger – cover graphics
• Paul McAlpine – cover photography

{{Reflist}}

• {{Discogs master|38179|Instinct}}

{{Iggy Pop}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Iggy Pop albums

Category:1988 albums

Category:A&M Records albums

Category:Albums produced by Bill Laswell